MANUFACTURERS

Motorists spend a fifth of their salary getting to work

The average worker spends nearly a fifth of their wages on essential motoring costs, including car finance, fuel and insurance to enable them to drive to and from work, according to new figures.

The findings from YourParkingSpace.co.uk reveal that UK workers who travel to work by car now spend approximately 19.5 per cent of their salary on the journey, with some £362 of the average monthly take home pay being swallowed up by car related expenses.

The biggest outlay was on car finance, followed by fuel and maintenance costs including MOTs. It also emerged that workers who have to factor in daily parking expenses on top of essential motoring costs could find their commute costing as much as £465 a month.

Harrison Woods, managing director of YourParkingSpace.co.uk said, “We know that people are travelling further and spending more than ever to get to work, but considering that we primarily go to work to earn money, it’s staggering to realise that the average worker is spending so much of their wages on just getting there each year.

“I would urge anyone who is trying to cut the cost of their journey to shop around for the best deals on all of their motoring expenses.”

The study looked at typical costs for the driver of a 1.6 litre version of the UK’s best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta, to make the average commuter journey, calculating that it would cost £4,345.35 over the course of a working year. Driving a more powerful car, such as a 3 litre BMW X5 could bring the cost up to £6,858.41 a year – over a quarter of the average yearly take home pay.

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